Goodbye Autumn Hello Winter!

The theme for the Scribble Picnic this week is "Goodbye Autumn". When I saw this prompt a few weeks ago, we already had a lot of snow on the ground! We said a fond farewell to Autumn a long time ago! Here is my watercolour to celebrate the change of season!!

And of course, for fun, I had to draw Bugs saying goodbye to Autumn too! :)

I'm still fooling around with that digital painting program, slowly but surely I'm learning all of the gazillion functions it has! Though I think I will stick to landscapes until I can acquire a digital pen! My finger on the touch pad of my laptop is way too wobbly for detail!!

Once you start to receive Christmas cards...Autumn is definitely long gone! This lovely card was sent to me by Christine, our fellow Scribble Picnicker and Blog friend. She made it herself too, I love that! Thanks so much Christine!! :))

Charlie would LIVE outside all winter if we let her!

Alex and I did the monthly shopping last week...so glad that's over. On shopping days we don't even bother to cook, we always make sure we have a nice cheese platter to snack on as we put groceries away. :)

We've had some unpleasant surprises lately...lots of power outages due to the heavy snow on the Hydro lines; next, our water pump busted and we had no water for almost a day; not to mention a partially flooded basement. :( We have a great landlord though, and he came over to fix it. Having no water is kind of depressing...but I'm glad it wasn't a big repair, I had some Homemade Salsa and Marinara Sauce to can! 

Another crazy thing that happened was car-related. I would be braking then the car would jerk suddenly and scare the bleep out of me. 

The ABS brake sensor was malfunctioning and last month we had it replaced. But the car dashboard still lit up like a Christmas tree! Oh, and just for fun, the "check engine" light came on too; so yesterday we had to go back and it was some kind of ridiculously expensive bearing on the wheel that had to be fixed. In times of stress, a nice walk in the woods helps. Alex and I came upon this frozen river on one of the trails near the garage.

Despite that surprise expense, I am proud to say we are nearly halfway towards our savings goal for a down payment! :) And...since I challenged myself in early November to only use the car less than 10 times until spring...it's been three trips out so far...once for monthly shopping and TWICE to the garage!!! I hope that's all settled now so I can keep that promise to myself! Our next car will have NO GADGETS...these modern cars claim convenience...but the cost to fix them is anything but!!! What do you guys drive?

Time for comfort food!!! This dish was SO GOOD. It's a Vegetarian-ish Shepherd's Pie. I say "ish" because I use Worcestershire sauce in it, which I believe has anchovies.

Green Onion and Potato Soup with Potato Pancakes. Oh Mr. Potato how I love thee! :)

Chocolate Coffee Cake. First time I made this! It was really good, especially the streusel topping!

Cozying up in bed with Jack, my precious hound dog. :)

Farewell little fella...until next year!! :)

Digital Art - I Don't Know What I'm Doing!!!

Winter Mountains

Hi Friends :)

I've been playing around with a digital painting program the last few days. I really have no idea how to use all of the features and I don't think I have the right computer for the job! But I came up with a few pieces I wanted to share.

Snow Queen

Someone familiar with the software would likely breeze through these paintings, but they took me a long time to create! I'm starting to think that I'd like to someday invest in one of those pens I can use as a mouse so I can draw digitally.

Full Moon

Just for "fun" I looked into an IPad and a drawing pen to go along with it. EEEGAD...we're talking over a thousand dollars for that set up (minimum)!! And that's not including the appropriate software!!

Don't Look Out The Window

I guess for now I'll make do with what I have! I'm going to download a video that shows me all of the features of this program and how to best use them on my laptop. That should keep me busy this winter!!

Speaking of winter...

It's getting colder and colder, sigh. The dogs love being outside, but their tolerance is getting lower. I'm going to have to start sewing some homemade dog booties soon!!

Comfort food is needed during cold weather!! We made a Tomato Pizza Fondue last week and it was SOOOOO GOOD.

Alex wanted something sweet after so he decided to "roast" some marshmallows over the fondue burner. It actually worked!! :)

My little Jack rabbit...not meant for the cold!!! :)

Scribble Picnic: Forest...Food...Fun!

Hello Friends!! :)

Hope you're all doing well! :) The theme for Michael's Scribble Picnic this week is "Forest". I thought about a snowy relaxing forest painting...but, you can't take the "scary" out of the gal it seems....this is my ink/watercolour "Forest"! :) I've had nightmares like this, so likely this is a self-portrait of sorts!!!

We've been dumped on with a good three feet of snow in the last half week! It's beautiful, and although I'm not a fan of cold, I've been trying to make the best of it by snowshoeing in the forest. :) I followed a game trail for about 45 minutes yesterday - me thinks it was deer though I didn't see anything but tracks. When it's snowing in the woods, it's so peaceful!

Here's my cartoon drawing for the picnic. In the Looney Tunes short "The Windblown Hare", Bugs taunts the Big Bad Wolf in the forest as he's brushing up on his fairy tales. Bugs fans may remember him strolling along singing "The rabbit in red...la da da dee dee dee, the rabbit in red...."... I love this episode and I was lucky to find it on Daily Motion (there may be an annoying ad before the cartoon starts, sorry about that!), check out the video if you want to bring back some memories!! :)

I hope the link worked! :)

I've been trying to make some great comfort food dishes lately. Lots of breakfast for dinner ideas! First, it's Breakfast Tacos. Then Linguine Carbonara (though I used capellini pasta because it's thinner and we prefer that).

A few Mexican inspired dinners: Papas Fritas (without the chicken this time) and Baked Enchiladas.  All with my homemade Salsa and Sour Cream. So delicious!! I would like to say that this is the time of year where I focus on comfort food...but who am I kidding? That's my main menu all year long!! :)

My homemade wood pallet decorations are out! Crooked Christmas Tree and Mr. Snowy are happy to be showcasing themselves for the season! :)

I'll end this post with an odd sighting...the elusive "oven-hood-cougar" who rarely lets himself be seen...little brat!!!  ;)

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Painting and Pesto

Hello Friends! :)

Since Halloween, I've been really taking it easy - as in: planning my entire life around either being in bed sleeping, being in bed watching movies with Alex or eating! It's been a wonderfully slothy time lol! But now I must avoid atrophy, so I'm up and doing stuff again. :)

I haven't done any painting since October, so I thought I'd do a November inspired watercolour. :)

I'm back in the kitchen slowly but surely! I made some Ricotta the other day.

The latest obsession...Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Pesto. Boy is this good stuff. I'm not a fan of pine nuts so I was trying to find a way to make a good pesto without them and I think I found it! I can only take a wee taste because I don't digest fruit and veggie skins/peels very well and it's impossible to peel a sun dried tomato! But Alex LOVES this with a little bit of sharp Cheddar on toast or Melba toast! 

I've also wrapped the Camemberts!! They'll be ready for Christmas!

Check this out: I use St-Ives body lotion. You know the type of lotion that you hand pump? When you get to the end of the container (or so it seems!!), the hand pump stops working and no more lotion comes out. I guess the companies assume people will just toss the container at that point and buy a new one. Look how much I managed to scrape out of 3 of those "empty" lotion containers!!! TWO CUPS.  Yeesh!!

Now that I have rested, recuperated and healed from the last year, I'm back into my fun menu planning. I send Alex a menu each Friday for the coming week. It's fun! And my friends will remember that each 14th of the month, we have a fondue night to celebrate our monthly "anniversary"! :) I think I have all of these recipes up on my Rain's Recipes Page, but if not, I'll be adding to it as I make them!

Another snow storm just started! We're supposed to get between 20 and 40 inches of snow throughout the weekend. It's so pretty this time of year!

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November: The Coming of Darkness

Winter is upon us, that's for sure! Alex and I took the dogs out today in the woods and it was a lot of fun walking in the snow. The temperatures are very cold and there is no doubt that we will only see green grass now in May!

I know that my American friends have Thanksgiving in November. Ours was in October. So this is one month where I don't have any big holidays planned. What does November mean to you? What do you focus on?

November always seems like a recovery month for me. The days are usually dreary and the nights are long...darkness encourages me to stay in bed longer than I usually do. We spend a lot of time at home, relaxing and recuperating from the summer and harvest seasons. At some point, usually mid-month, I start to think about Yuletide, Christmas and the New Year.  Our feasts will be scaled down this year since we are officially in frugal mode, but I still plan to have a lot of fun with what I can afford to make!

Also, I'd like to share a big goal with you. I plan to only use the car less than ten times from now until April. Monthly shopping and all of the canning I've done will help with that! Eventually I'd like that to be I'll NEVER use the car during the winter! But...that will take more time and planning. :)

Have you started to think about Christmas yet? 

👻 Halloween: Jolts, Spooky Food and Fun!!! 👻

Happy Halloween!!

I am in my element today!! :) I've been baking, painting, sculpting and decorating! I hope you enjoy this post...it's my favourite time of the year!! Here are this year's pumpkins. Christopher Lee as Dracula...and the Scream Ghost. That ghost face was hard...carving a little pumpkin is quite the challenge...note to self - next year, carve BIG pumpkins!!!

The theme for Michael's Scribble Picnic this week is Jolt/Double. Have you ever seen the horror movie "Scanners"? It's from 1980-ish...about telekinetic energy and such and such...I wanted to recreate the famous movie poster. That's fellow Canadian Michael Ironside whose head is about to explode!! A jolt indeed!! :)

In the Looney Tunes short "Scaredy Cat", Porky Pig and Sylvester stop for the night at what they think is a run-down motel. In fact, it's a Haunted House!!! 

Sylvester caught a glimpse of the windows...and the scary shadow of a spider and he got quite the jolt of fear!

And to complete the picnic, here is my "Double" painting in acrylic.

I had a lot of fun the last few days making my Paper Maché Pumpkins. It's so easy and a very frugal craft!

Here are my last few "Ghostober" pieces. I really enjoyed coming up with 31 ghosts, spooks and ghouls this month! Yesterday, I included a local ghost story from my home town of Montreal, Quebec. Does your home town have a famous ghost?

"Tulip Staircase Ghost" (watercolour/ink): In 1966, a retired reverend was visiting The Queen's House in Greenwhich, England when he took a photo of an interesting staircase called the Tulip Staircase. When he later saw the photo, the image of what is believed to be a ghost appeared. Some speculate it is the ghost of a maid who died on that staircase over 300 years ago.

"Mary Gallagher" (mixed media): Mary Gallagher was a prostitute who was brutally murdered, decapitated and dismembered in Montreal Quebec in 1879. Every seven years, her ghost roams William street in Griffintown, in search of her missing head.

"Stingy Jack" (acrylic): Stingy Jack was a miserly old drunkard who, accepted in neither heaven nor hell, was forced to wander the earth with a coal from hell stuck in a turnip to light his way. This is the origin of the Jack O' Lantern.

The table is set...I came up with a fun and spooky menu this year!!

My table setting this year...watch your fingers...those fangs are sharp! :)

EEEK and Potato Soup served in a Pumpkin Bowl.

Corn Salsa with Goat Cheese and a Bacon Cheddar Dip served in a bread coffin. I remember last year you said you loved that idea Debra, well I did it this year!!! :)

Bat-shaped Tortilla Chips for dipping.

Joyce's Rustic Olive Bread Sticks shaped as snakes.

Pumpkin-shaped "Spooked Meat" Sandwiches (that's smoked meat!)...and Potato Scream Skins with my Homemade Sour Cream.

Count Chocolate Orange Cupcakes for dessert! I made the Meringue Ghosts as toppers.

I filled 8 vinyl gloves with chocolates and candy...we will not run out of sweets soon! The little drink on the right is a Stewart's orange soda with a little clementine pumpkin for garnish.

While we feasted, we listened to an episode of Suspense called The Shelter. Trust me, there were some jolting moments in that show! Does anyone else enjoy "old time radio"? Some of these episodes are more nerve-racking than a lot of the new movies out there today...and you can find a lot of them for free on YouTube!

Besides a lot of fun...Halloween is also a very important holiday for me. As my friends know, I am a Pagan and today is called Samhain (pronounced Sow-wen). It's my New Year holiday. I follow the tradition of my ancestors who lived by the seasons. At the end of Harvest, a new year begins. Happy New Year to my fellow Pagans and Wiccans! I just wanted to mention to those who don't know, I have a blog called Rain's Thoughts. It's more about spirituality, my original Tarot spreads, thought-provoking posts, lore, Nature and Self-improvement. Feel free to stop by any time! :)

I can't wait to see how all of my friends enjoyed their Halloween! :)